Smartphone Sales in China Dropped Significantly in February
Mobile phone brands shipped a total of 6.34 million devices in February, down 54.7% from 14 million in the same month last year, according to data released by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology showed (CAICT).
Apple seems to have sold fewer than half a million smartphones in China in February.
China placed curbs on travel and asked residents to avoid public places in late January, just ahead of the Lunar New Year festival, a major gift-giving holiday. Those restrictions stayed largely in place through most of February.
Shipments of Apple devices slumped to 494,000, from 1.27 million in February 2019. In January, its shipments had held steady at just over 2 million.
Android brands accounted for most of the drop, as they collectively saw shipments decline from 12.72 million units in February 2019 to 5.85 million, the data showed.
Research firms IDC and Canalys previously forecast that overall smartphone shipments would drop by about 40% in the first quarter as the virus outbreak hit demand and brought supply-chain problems.
Apple’s branded stores in China were shut for at least two weeks in February as fears over the coronavirus outbreak mounted.
The total domestic mobile phone market shipments were 6.384 million units in February, of which 43,000 2G mobile phones, 3.960 million 4G mobile phones, and 2.38 million were 5G mobile phones.
A total of 16 new models were launched, down 61.0% year-on-year, including 1 2G mobile phone, 4 4G mobile phones, and 11 5G mobile phones. From January to February 2020, 50 new models were launched, down 31.5% year-on-year, of which 9 were 2G mobile phones, 22 were 4G mobile phones, and 19 were 5G mobile phones.
Android phones accounted for 92.2% of the total shipped smartphones in February, according to CAICT.